Notes
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When a team starts a project without planning, the reactive planning model may ensue.
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David Allen defined this planning in his book Getting Things Done.
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It's a system mental model because it helps you understand how a project's execution works without upfront planning.
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The phases of the reactive planning model are:
- Identifying next actions
- Organizing
- Brainstorming
- Outcome visioning
- Defining purpose and principles
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Such phases aren't the natural way your mind operates because you try to do actions before organizing, before collecting many ideas, before creating the vision before defining purposes.
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The team reacts to the situation instead of controlling it.
- When stuff gets out of control, they act, word harder, get busier.
- When having a lot of busy people, someone says, "We need to get organized!"
- After some time, just organizing the problem isn't enough, and someone suggests, "Let's brainstorm!".
- But the brainstorming isn't effective because they don't have a clear vision, purpose, and principles. Finally, they ask, "What are we trying to do here?" and start defining the last phase.
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The opposite of this model is the natural planning model.
Questions
- Which scenarios may we observe the reactive planning model?